York’s own “Irish Music Guy” tackles many roles
Music fans from far and near know Kevin Farley best as the "Irish Music Guy," but this summer he is also embarking on two new artistic endeavors. "After not playing drums since ninth grade, I’m playing with a N.H.-based, all original alternative-pop band called Those Charming Deviationists," Farley explained.
The other is his role as Buffalo Bill in Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun," the story of Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which opens at Hackmatack Playhouse in Berwick on July 9.
"I've loved the Hackmatack forever and have seen many fantastic shows there," Farley said, "And it never once crossed my mind that I would ever get to be a part of one."
After “retiring permanently” from acting in third grade after what he described as an “involuntary and disastrous” performance in "The Ugly Duckling," Farley said the role of Buffalo Bill came as "a totally unforeseen opportunity," this one the result of a conversation with director Sharon Hilton.
"I had been thinking that the next step in developing my skills would be acting lessons or coaching," he said of the Irish Music Guy, "but it never seemed like the right time. Then this fell into my lap.”
As he prepares for the upcoming opening of the show, Farley said he "did sneak a look at a picture of the famous statue of Buffalo Bill in Wyoming, just to see how he positioned his feet. Everything else I'm leaving up to Sharon Hilton and the other actors." He added, with his trademark humor, "That way if it goes horribly wrong, they can take all the blame."
As for Those Charming Deviationists, Farley explained that was also a complete accident. "I dusted off my stepson's long-abandoned drums to help another dad back up our daughters at the Middle School Talent Show," he said, "and he'd been writing songs with a friend and teaching colleague and they got selected to perform for the RPM Challenge series and needed a drummer. So now we're a band, as schedules permit."
At first, Farley said, he was dubious about joining a rock band. "My first reaction was that I have no time, no interest, and no ability to play the drums," he said. "Then I heard these great songs John Adams writes, and what fantastic musicians he and Jim and Bill White are and how inspiring they are to work with, and I realized that it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. They say there's no time like the present, but there's really no time but the present. I'm always amazed at how you can make time for things if you want to."
And when it comes to making time for activities, Farley said, he needs look no farther for inspiration than his own wife, Ogunquit Playhouse Community Relations Manager Cheryl Farley who "takes on a ridiculous amount of activities and challenges and just thrives on it. And with style, too."
And while balancing his work as the Irish Music Guy, his return to the stage as Buffalo Bill and keeping the beat in a new rock band, Farley is no stranger to seizing the opportunities that come along - including that moment, about 30 years, when he traveled to North Conway, N.H. to hear an Irish folk group perform, hit it off with the band's members and ended up being invited to join them as their bass player. "I was playing classical guitar at the time. I owned neither a bass or an amp and hadn't played music in front of an audience since ninth grade. I knew none of the group's repertoire. The financial details were very unclear," he recalled. "So of course I gave my notice to the bookstore in Kennebunkport where I was working, and off I went."
It has been 30 years, but this Irish Music Guy is still going strong. "I saw a headline recently that said ‘Money can buy happiness, if you spend it on other people.' The turning point in my career was when I changed my focus from trying to show off how clever I was to trying to think of how I could use my knowledge to somehow benefit my audience, whether emotionally, spiritually or just give them some kind of affirmation," Farley said. "Suddenly I went from struggling to being very busy and fulfilled."
And
what is the state of Irish music in the United States? Farley has a story to
share on that subject as well.
"There was a guy who made the news this past March for banning the song ‘Danny Boy' from his pub in New York on the basis that it's not a ‘real' Irish song because the words were written by an Englishman," Farley explained. "I like the song ‘Fly Me to the Moon,' although the last time I checked, the guy who wrote it wasn't an astronaut. The Irish music scene in this country is very divided, with the traditional music crowd looking down on the popular song crowd and people saying they don't like a certain Irish harper from the 1600s because he embraced Italian influences in his playing. My goal is to cover all these styles, to show how they're all connected - and that these connections are something to be celebrated.
As for future plans, York’s own Irish Music Guy insists he will “just keep following my invisible thread from one happenstance and unforeseen opportunity to another, and have fun doing it. Things seem to work out better that way.”
www.thosecharmingdeviationists.com
